


The Most Important Meal of the Day

by TenRoseForeverandever



Series: Domestic Bliss [5]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, with a touch of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-28
Updated: 2014-07-28
Packaged: 2018-02-10 17:39:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2034051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TenRoseForeverandever/pseuds/TenRoseForeverandever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the events of "The Wire", the Doctor wants to give Rose a treat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Most Important Meal of the Day

**Author's Note:**

> This is the less-evil twin of the story that preceded in my "Domestic Bliss" series, "Crossing a Line".   
>  PLEASE BE AWARE: the first 850 or so words are IDENTICAL to the other story, but from there, it diverges from its dark sibling to become the more fluffy tale I had originally envisioned.   
>  Hope you enjoy!

**Most Important Meal of the Day**

“G’morning,” Rose yawned, stumbling blearily into the kitchen.

“Rose Tyler!” the Doctor replied. “Finally, you’re up!”

“Only ‘cuz you hammered on m’door…”

“You little humans and your depraved obsession with sleep. Honestly, the day’s half gone already, Rose!” He turned away to pop a couple of slices of bread in the toaster, and flicked on the kettle for tea, still prattling away about how the wasted part of their day could have been spent more productively.

Rose groggily registered his use of the word “depraved”, filing it away for future reference when she was coherent enough to respond appropriately. Right now, her bed was begging for her return. She turned away and staggered back to her room, leaving the garrulous Time Lord rambling as he prepared their favourite mugs for tea.

Soon she was flopped luxuriously amongst heaps of duvets and pillows. She revelled in the gentle hum of the TARDIS surrounding her peacefully, and her last drowsy thoughts as she drifted back to sleep was that _this_ was a very productive use of her day.

\-------

“Roooooose.” She quivered as he whispered her name into her ear, feeling his cool breath tickle seductively across her throat.

“Mmmmmm, Doctor…”

“You disappeared, Rose, left me alone. The tea’s gone cold, now.”

Her eyes snapped open from her dream to find the Doctor leaning over her, a bereft expression shadowing his normally animated demeanor.

He pouted like a child, and the eyes that met hers were sad and somehow frightened. “I turned around and you weren’t there. You can’t wander off like that, Rose. How often do we have to go over this?”

“Doctor, we’re on the TARDIS, ‘member? Jus’ went back to my room, yeah. Nothin’s gonna happen to me here.”

“But you need to have breakfast, Rose. Most important meal of the day, breakfast.”

Rose glanced at the bedside clock that she kept set to Earth time. He had wakened her at what time? 5:00 a.m.? Really? “Maybe in a little while, yeah, Doctor? I wanna sleep a little longer. ‘M still knackered from having my brain drained by that ‘Wire’ thing.” Rose noticed his face blanch at the mention of the alien parasite. She smiled gently at him. “’M okay, Doctor. Jus’ need a little more sleep.”

“Guess I’ll just go off and fiddle with the TARDIS, then, while you rest. You rest, Rose… yeah, that’s for the best.” He leaned over and pressed his lips softly to her forehead. She nestled into her pillow, savouring the touch of his cool kiss, and smiled up at him. He gazed at her briefly, then despondently jammed his hands deep into his pinstriped pockets, and reluctantly turned from her and left the room.

“Daft alien,” she muttered fondly as her eyes fluttered closed again.

\-------

She was gradually awakened by a growing awareness of little metallic clinking noises coming from the foot of her bed. Her sleep-hazed eyes discerned a large, dark shape lurking there, and she squealed in shock, dragging herself backward into a defensive crouch, prepared to fight or flee if necessary.

“Ah, you’re awake, Rose!” Her vision cleared to the sight of the Time Lord, sitting cross-legged on the end of her bed, tinkering with a random gadget from the TARDIS, and grinning maniacally at her.

“Doctor!” she yelped. “You scared the sh-”   She felt her pulse slow. “Just how long have you been sitting there?”

“Oh, not long, really. Just for a couple of minutes… weeeell, hours, actually. You were asleep   (sleep seems like such a lonely activity) and I thought you’d like the company. Besides, I didn’t want to waste a minute.”

She frowned her confusion at him and he clarified: “To get you breakfast, Rose. The most important meal of the day, remember?” He leaned over and tapped her on the forehead with his index finger. “Now that I know that you’re awake, I’ll go get it ready.” He leaped up from his perch. “You stay right there, Rose Tyler. No wandering off!”

A glance at the clock told her that it was now 8:30 a.m. and, while still earlier than was ideal, she grudgingly told herself that it wouldn’t be unreasonable to get up now. It would make the silly Time Lord happy, anyway. She shook head in wonder at him, chuckling silently to herself at his quirky behaviour: just when she thought she had seen it all, he challenged her and took ‘eccentric’ to a whole new level.

As soon as the bedroom door had shut behind the Doctor, Rose tossed aside the covers and tottered toward the en suite, pausing every few steps to stretch languidly. Suddenly, his head popped back in through the door. “Rose, what kind of jam–   Rose? Rose, where are you, Rose?” His voice took on an edge of panic as his eyes quickly surveyed the empty bed. He ran his hands through his hair in his anxiety, tugging at the unruly strands.

“’M right here, Doctor,” Rose spoke quietly.

“I told you not to move, Rose, and the minute my back is turned, what do you do?”

Rose rolled her eyes in disbelief. “Basic biological functions, Doctor.” She sighed impatiently at his enduring mystified expression. “I need the loo!”

“Oh, right, that explains it then.” The manic grin returned. “So, jam?”

“Uh, strawberry, please…”

“And you won’t wander off?”

“Just to the loo,” she assured him, shaking her head with a little smirk. “I could just meet you in the kitchen, Doctor.”

“No! No, no, no, Rose Tyler. You need to stay put. Not only am I going to make you breakfast, I’m going to make you breakfast in bed! Ha!” he gloated, thrusting his finger triumphantly in the air as he disappeared back down the hall.

\-------

A few minutes later, Rose leaped back into her bed, face shining in delight. She piled some pillows up behind her so that she could sit comfortably, and wriggled in anticipation: no one had ever served her breakfast in bed before! Even if it was just toast and tea it would be a treat, a lovely gift from her Doctor. Just as she began to allow herself to indulge in a little fantasy about the Time Lord to pass the time while she awaited his return, he reappeared, a smug grin on his face, carrying a tray laden with breakfast. He set it down on her bedside table.

“Oh, Doctor,” Rose cooed as the Time Lord poured her tea, “this is perfect.” She flashed her tongue-touched grin at him, nearly causing him to overflow her tea mug. “And scones instead of toast!”

“Yup,” he declared, “made ‘em myself, Rose Tyler. Banana scones, those are! Toast was alright, but since I had the time… and let’s be honest, you deserve it!”

“Seems to me,” she joked thoughtlessly, “that I should make it a habit to get my mental energy violently sucked out by a hideous, plasmic-energy creature more often… if it means I earn a breakfast in bed the next day.” Her careless giggle was suddenly stunned into solemn silence at the expression of utter misery that crossed the Doctor’s face.

“Never, Rose, never ever…” he gasped the words out, clutching to the teapot desperately with whitened knuckles. She swore she saw tears welling in his ancient, brown eyes.

“I’m so sorry, Doctor. I was jus’ kidding, yeah. I was being stupid.” She reached up to pry his fingers from the pot, and set it down.

“Oh, Rose…”

“Aww, my Doctor,” she breathed. “C’mon then.” She patted the bed and scooted over to make room. “Sit down and share some of these amazin’ scones with me. I’ll even let you stick your fingers in the jam jar…”

He sat down and took the jar she held out to him, and absently began to scoop the preserves out with his fingers, and bring them to his mouth, his eyes staring blankly ahead of him. “Doctor, I said I was sorry.” Rose touched his arm gently. “Are you alright?”

“I’m always alright, Rose,” he muttered his voice full of resigned despair.

“Doctor, you and I both know that that is not true. I’m here, Doctor, listenin’, whenever you need to talk.” She stroked his hand with her thumb in soothing circles, hoping she was writing _I love you_ in Gallifreyan.

After a moment of further silence, he turned to look at her and extended his hand to brush aside a tendril of hair from her cheek. He traced the outline of her face, stopping when his palm was lovingly cupping her chin. He spoke in a haunted tone, “Your face, Rose. The Wire, it took your beautiful face, your beautiful mind, and I wasn’t sure I could get you back. It nearly won, Rose. It nearly took you from me forever…” His voice trailed away into nothingness. His thumb stroked across her lips, and with subtle insistence he tilted her face up toward his, leaned in, and brought his lips to press against hers. He tasted of strawberry jam and the loneliness of time, and Rose was overwhelmed by the depth and desperation of the love he was showing her.

She had craved this for so long, had dreamt of being swept away in a wave of passion, but as she returned the kiss, she found herself, instead, focused on _him_ , trying to comfort him with all her love as she pressed her lips ever deeper against his. When she felt him pull away from her, she urgently reached up to place her hands on either side of his face. He responded by tenderly leaning his forehead against hers. “What if I’d lost you? What if I’d never been able to see you ever again? It was all my fault for leaving you alone,” he lamented quietly.

“Not your fault, Doctor.” She stroked the hair around his temples, reassuring him in a whisper, “You didn’t let that happen, Doctor. I put myself in that situation. I’m so sorry. But, you: you brought me back to you.”

“But I should never have left you alone to begin with, Rose,” a dark edge coloured his voice. “I’m always putting you in danger, and one day…”

“We _do_ seem to find trouble.” She couldn’t supress a giggle. “But, Doctor, helping people, discovering new things with you, gives me a life worth living!”

“But you nearly died!” he growled.

“Doctor, sometimes we work side by side (that’s the best, havin’ your hand to hold.)” She allowed him to see the love in her eyes, and took up his hand in hers, caressing it once again with his mysterious circular language. “And sometimes, it’s ‘divide and conquer’, yeah. But we’re always a team, you and me. We look out for each other, and always will.”

They sat in unspeaking stillness for a long while, hands still clasped snugly, and sipping from their mugs of tea.

“I’ve come in here at night to watch you sleep… before today, when things had been too dangerous,” he suddenly blurted out. “Needed to know you were still there.” His forehead creased into a vulnerable frown and Rose knew that he was apprehensive about how she would receive this sudden confession.

“Should have let me know you were there, Doctor. There were lots of nights I could have used a hug. Lots of times I was so scared, I didn’t want to sleep, ‘cause I knew the nightmares would come. I was wishin’ you were there.”

He was silent again, and when he spoke his voice was hoarse with emotion. “I have bad dreams too. You know I don’t sleep much, but when I do, the nightmares are always there. About the war, Gallifrey burning, and over the last year or so, about you, Rose. My guilt over everything I have done or failed to do; the mistakes I have made; my fears for the future, your future, our future… My life would be so empty without you.”

Rose accepted the rare gift of this admission of his feelings by placing her hand between his two hearts. “If you ever need some holdin’, jus’ let me know. I need to know you’re there too, and I always feel safest when you’re holdin’ me…” She bit her lip shyly, flicking her eyes up to meet his.

He responded by wrapping his arms around her, and drawing her as close to him as their bodies would allow. She melted into his embrace, allowing their unspoken love to fill their souls and spill out to one another. As their hold on one another relaxed, Rose sighed, leaned her head against his shoulder, and entwined their hands once more. They sat in contented peace for what seemed to be a blissful eternity.

Finally, Rose broke the spell. “This was lovely, Doctor.” She gestured to the remains of their breakfast with a sweep of her free arm. “You really surprised me, bakin’ scones, bringin’ me breakfast! I never thought that you would be willin’ to do somethin’ so… domestic.” She flashed him a cheeky grin, and gave him a playful nudge with her elbow.

“Nah, Rose, don’t be silly,” he replied with a serious expression that was softened by the mocking glint in his eye. “I don’t do domestic, you know that! It’s simply that breakfast is the most important meal of the day: it’s just another way for me to make sure that you stay safe and well, and right where I can keep an eye on you.”


End file.
